Kocham Cie
by TurtleTotem
Summary: Charles has mixed feelings about Erik's pet names for him  Contains: slash, syrupy fluff, mangling of foreign languages


**X-Men First Class**

**Charles/Erik**

Charles can handle _liebling_ and even _schatzi_, but when Erik calls him _zaubermaus_during a moment of... distraction, he bites Erik's lip — not in the fun way — and throws him out of the bedroom.

Erik just laughs. And the next day he switches from German endearments to Polish ones.

At least Charles assumes they're Polish; he knows Erik grew up speaking both languages, and the words don't sound like any German he's ever heard. Charles's knowledge of German is patchy enough, but his Polish is nonexistent, and Erik knows it. Charles doesn't bother asking what the words mean; Erik's smug grin makes it clear that he's not telling, that Charles not knowing is at least half the fun.

"Good morning, _moje sloneczko,_" Erik murmurs in his ear as the sun rises, the words a warm ripple down Charles's spine, and he pulls Erik in close, so close their lips brush as Charles murmurs, "Say that again, Erik, say it again—"

_"Moje sloneczko, najwspanialsza rzecz w moim życiu"_

Charles captures the words in a breathless kiss, as if trying to absorb them through his skin and so learn their meaning, he wants to know what they _mean_, what is Erik saying to him in that warm, fond, sleep-raspy voice... And sure, he could peek into Erik's mind and find out for himself, but that would be _cheating_. That would be missing the whole point of the game.

It's always _sloneczko_ in the morning, and maybe _kochanie_ over breakfast, or any time really, and _kotku_ when Erik finds him playing with some of the younger children, chasing and pouncing and swinging them shrieking through the air, with Erik leaning against a tree chuckling _zabawny kotku_. In bed at night it's _piękny_, over and over, reverently, almost desperately, murmured against his skin between kisses, _piękny, doskonały, najpiękniejszy na świecie..._

And one time, cuddling on the couch in front of the television with the movie long ended, Charles snuggled tight to Erik's chest, a rather sheepish — maybe wistful? —_Wreszcie mam misia._

Maybe he doesn't want to know, maybe that would ruin it. After all, _zaubermaus_wouldn't sound so bad if he didn't know it meant _enchanted rodent_. Maybe he doesn't want to find out that these sweet, hypnotic, thrilling words are equally ridiculous.

But there is one phrase he desperately wants to learn.

It takes him three weeks to track down a decent Polish-to-English dictionary, and another week to familiarize himself with the language enough that he can even make a guess at turning foreign sounds into letters on a page — all without letting anything on to Erik.

Finally he has it, the one sentence he needs, and he waits for the perfect moment. They're curled together in bed, Erik's heartbeat steady against Charles's back, and he knows Erik is just about to drift off. He turns in Erik's arms to brush one hand down his face, leans close and whispers, _"Kocham cie, mój przyjacielu."_

Surprise and delight cut through Erik's sleepiness, as well as a sheepish acknowledgement that the game is up. Charles will have to tell him later that he can't, in fact, bring himself to mind if Erik continues to call him _sloneczko_ and _kotku_ and_misia_ even if they do mean ridiculous things like _sunshine_ and _kitten_ and _teddy bear_. That will have to come later, because right now Erik is saying, "I love you too, _meine Zaubermaus_," and he keeps laughing even when Charles bites him hard enough to draw blood.

-end-

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_Author's Note:_

A thousand thank-yous for livejournal user pentre_katblake for correcting my Polish!

GERMAN  
>liebling – darling, beloved<br>schatzi – treasure  
>zaubermaus – enchantedmagical mouse  
>(And yes, these are popular pet names!)<p>

POLISH  
>moje słoneczko – my sunshine<br>najwspanialsza rzecz w moim życiu – brightest thing in my life  
>kochanie – honey, darling, beloved<br>zabawny kotku – funny kitten  
>piekny – beautiful<br>doskonały – perfect  
>najpiękniejszy na świecie – most beautiful in the world<br>wreszcie mam misia – At last I have a teddy bear.  
>Kocham cie – I love you<br>mój przyjacielu – my friend


End file.
